"Well, it seemed like a good
idea for the first day," Gundlach said. "He called me out of the
blue and we got together the next next day. And it just seemed
like this phenomenal, to put it pejoratively, publicity
generator, or stunt, if you want to put it really
pejoratively."

He continued: "But then, after
a few days I was like, 'How am I going to explain this to my
investors?' I could imagine new investors might come in because
they follow Bill. He's done a great job for a very long time
time. But then, when they say, 'How are you going to work
together?' The only honest answer–I always try to give an honest
answer to things–would have been, 'I don't know. I'm sort of
hoping for the best.'

"When he called me and said his
decision was to go to Janus, I was kind of relieved," Gundlach
told "Wall Street Week."

Bond kings Jeffrey Gundlach and
Bill Gross have worked in the Los Angeles area for 30-plus years
and had never met or spoken to each other, not even at a
conference,
until last year. Gundlach, 55, said that they actually have
"a lot in common" just not when it comes to their
personalities.

"The truth of the matter is
we've been managing bonds for three decades-plus, so we actually
have a lot in common–maybe not in other areas, maybe not
personality-wise, but there's just a lot of shared experience
there, so he's pretty easy to talk to."

Bill
Gross.REUTERS/Jim
Young

The backstory

The inside account detailed
how Gross clashed with Mohamed El-Erian in front of the
other employees. El-Erian, PIMCO's
CEO/co-CIO, resigned
from PIMCO in January 2014.Sources told The Journal that Gross
referred to himself as "Secretariat," the legendary racehorse.
The article also said that Gross didn't like it when his
traders made eye contact with or spoke to him.

This was the first time
Gundlach really discussed his meeting with Gross.